DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

Press Briefing

DAILY PRESS BRIEFING BY OFFICE OF SPOKESMAN FOR SECRETARY-GENERAL

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing by Manoel de Almeida e Silva, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General.

**Guests

Good afternoon. We’re four minutes late so let’s see if we can recover that. We have many important guests today. As you know, our special guest at the noon briefing is Kate Raworth, an economist from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), who will be here with us to talk about the Human Development Report 2000. She herself is one of the co-authors of this report. Following her briefing, at 12:30, we have Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General in East Timor, who will be talking to you about the situation in that country, after having briefed the Security Council.

**Secretary-General in Hungary

Let me start with the Secretary-General in Hungary. He started the official visit to that country this morning with a stop at the United Nations House, where he first met with the representatives of the five United Nations agencies active in Hungary, and then addressed the staff. He then went to Heroes’ Square, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. At the Foreign Ministry, he met for almost an hour with Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi. The Secretary-General congratulated the Hungarian leadership for smoothly managing the political and economic transition in Hungary during the last decade. He told journalists after the meeting that Hungary’s experience could inspire other nations who are trying to make the same transition.

In the afternoon, the Secretary-General went to the Parliament building, where he first met with President Arpad Goncz. They discussed the pollution of the Danube River and efforts being made to clean it up. The Secretary-General also briefed the President on his recent trip to the Middle East, and they discussed prospects for a comprehensive peace. He then met with the Speaker of the Parliament, Janos Ader, who assured him he would attend the millennium meeting of Parliamentarians in August here in New York. Mr. Ader then described a revision of the Hungarian constitution, adopted just one week ago, that permits the Government to commit troops to United Nations peacekeeping missions after informing the Parliament, but no longer requires an act of Parliament to permit it, as was the case before.

In late afternoon, the Secretary-General went to the offices of the United Nations Association of Hungary, where he addressed the members and took their questions. In the evening, he was to be the guest of honor at a dinner hosted by the President. As I mentioned, the Secretary-General had a brief press encounter this morning, and the transcript is already available here in New York, available in our office for any of you.

Daily Press Briefing - 2 - 29 June 2000

In fact, I had questions about the case of the Cuban boy, Elian, who went back. The Secretary-General was asked this question in Hungary. He said he was relieved the saga was now over and the poor boy is finally returning home with his father. He said he thought the judicial process in the United States “had worked and worked successfully”. For those of you who’ve asked about this, you have more details in the transcript of this press conference.

**Security Council on Somalia

Here in New York, the Security Council this morning began an open debate on Somalia by hearing a briefing from Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs Kieran Prendergast on the latest developments there, particularly the opening of the second round of the Somali Peace Conference in Arta, Djibouti, on 15 June. He noted that 920 delegates have been allocated seats, with every major clan, and Somali women, represented; however, Prendergast added, some major Somali leaders continue to refuse to take part in the Conference or send observers. Deliberations on the Conference have been extended until July 15. He thanked Djibouti for hosting and facilitating the conference, and added, "There have been so many false dawns in relation to Somalia that the international community, and in particular the Security Council, must not fall prey to cynicism or despair and give up on Somalia." We have copies of his speech in the Spokesman's Office.

Also among the speakers in today's debate is Ambassador Roble Olhaye of Djibouti, who traveled from the Conference site to participate in today's debate and provided details on the Peace Conference. Still on the Council’s activities, at 4 p.m. today, the Council will go into closed consultations to discuss the text of draft resolutions which Council members have been considering on Sierra Leone. The Council will also discuss Sierra Leone tomorrow, when it is briefed by Special Representative Oluyemi Adeniji, who, you'll recall, will talk to you at about 12:30 when that Council session is over.

**Social Summit Plus Five

And today, on the special session of the General Assembly in Geneva that is reviewing progress since the 1995 World Summit on Social Development held in Copenhagen, the work continues in Geneva for getting ready the document on the session’s outcome. That document is to offer a review and appraisal of progress since Copenhagen and detail further initiatives on social development. So far, delegates have reached agreement on roughly three-quarters of the outcome document's 161 paragraphs. Cristian Maquieira, the Chairman of the ad hoc Committee of the Whole, said the Conference is at "the beginning of the endgame."

Among other items, delegates have agreed on targets to reduce global poverty, plans for a global employment strategy, and language on equity for women. Working groups will continue to discuss the remaining bracketed paragraphs before going into a closing plenary, which is expected to take place tomorrow afternoon if agreement is reached on the text.

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**Rwanda Tribunal

In Arusha today, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda decided to join the cases of four former members of the military hierarchy in Rwanda in 1994, known as “the Military Group”, for the purposes of a joint trial. The four -– Theoneste Bagosora, Gratien Kabiligi, Aloys Ntabakuze and Anatole Nsengiyumva –- are charged with the same crimes, particularly conspiracy to commit genocide, among other offences. Trial Chamber III ruled the joinder would reduce the overall time required to try the four accused, and allow for a more consistent and detailed presentation of the evidence, and for better protection of the victims’ and witnesses’ physical and mental safety by eliminating the need for them to make several journeys and to repeat their testimony. There’s a press release with more details in our office.

**Special Envoy to Myanmar

Today, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar, Razali Ismail, began a three-day visit to Myanmar, his first to the country since being appointed by the Secretary-General on 4 April. He is to discuss issues relating to General Assembly Resolution 54/186, which concerns the promotion of human rights in Myanmar, and to report afterward to the Secretary-General on his visit.

**Ratification of International Court

Yesterday afternoon, Belgium became the 13th State to deposit its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. 60 ratifications are needed for the Court to become operational.

**Upcoming Briefings

Today, as I said before, at 12:30 we have Sergio Vieira de Mello coming to talk to you on East Timor. Then, for tomorrow, our guest at noon is Ambassador Philip Kirsch of Canada, who will be here in his capacity as chairman of the Preparatory Commission for the International Criminal Court. Tomorrow at 11:15 is a press conference by Aida Gonzalez Martinez, Chairperson of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Yakin Erturk, Director of the United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. They’ll be discussing CEDAW’s work. At 12:30, following the briefing tomorrow, we’ll have Oluyemi Adeniji, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sierra Leone.

Are there any questions before we move on to our guest? There are none, so would you please join us, Kate Raworth.

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